FTC set to make second request on Broadcom's bid for Qualcomm: sources

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is set to make a second request for information on chipmaker Broadcom Ltd's $103 billion hostile bid for Qualcomm Inc, people familiar with the matter said on Friday, indicating heightened antitrust scrutiny.Read more ...

U.S. Set To Decide In Trade Dispute Threatening Booming Solar Industry

President Trump is facing a Jan. 26 deadline to decide whether to impose tariffs on solar imports. While tariffs could help level the playing field for U.S. manfacturers, they could also raise prices.Read more ...

US House Passes Short-Term Funding Extension for NFIP; Prospects Dim in Senate

The U.S. House passed and sent to the Senate another temporary funding bill to extend government operations and the National Flood Insurance Program until Feb. 16. The Senate was debating the bill ...Read more ...

The odds that a U.S. government shutdown leads to bigger problems down the road are nontrivial.Read more ...

U.S. Chamber pushes ‘jump-start' for public works

The federal gas tax should be increased to help modernize U.S. roads, bridges and other public works, and Congress must expand funding and financing options for projects, U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue said. The chamber is calling on Congress and the Trump administration to raise federal fuel taxes by 25 cents, pass initiatives ...Read more ...

US rig count down by 3 to 936; Wyoming adds 3

HOUSTON - The number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas in the U.S. decreased by three this week to 936.
That exceeds the 694 rigs that were active this time a year ago.
Houston oilfield services company Baker Hughes reported on Friday that 747 rigs were drilling for oil and 189 for natural gas this week.
Among oil- and gas-producing states, Wyoming gained three rigs, West Virginia increased by two and Louisiana, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Texas each gained one.
Colorado and Ohio each lost four rigs and Alaska, North Dakota and Utah each decreased by one.
Arkansas, California and...Read more ...

U.S. consumer sentiment was expected to rise in the January mid-month reading.Read more ...

Possible U.S. shutdown won't affect U.S.'s AAA-rating: Fitch

NEW YORK - Fitch Ratings said on Friday its top AAA debt rating for the United States would not be directly impacted by a possible federal shutdown, which will begin on Saturday if lawmakers fail to clinch a deal to fund the government.Read more ...

Gross Domestic Product by Industry: Third Quarter 2017

Finance and insurance; durable goods manufacturing; and information services were the leading contributors to the increase in U.S. economic growth in the third quarter of 2017. Overall, 18 of 22 industry groups contributed to the 3.2 percent increase in real GDP in the third quarter.
Finance and insurance increased 14.7 percent in the third quarter, after decreasing 6.6 percent in the second quarter.
Durable goods manufacturing increased 7.5 percent, after increasing 2.9 percent.
Information services increased 9.0 percent, after increasing 7.0 percent.
For more information, read the full...Read more ...

EXCLUSIVE: Most U.S. states lost coal mining jobs in 2017

Nearly two-thirds of U.S. coal producing states lost coal mining jobs in 2017, even as overall employment in the downtrodden sector grew modestly, according to preliminary government data obtained by Reuters.Read more ...

This Is How the U.S. Almost Bought Russian Natural Gas

For a lesson in how liquefied natural gas is radically reshaping the global energy market, consider the twisted tale of a ship heading to Boston that made a U-turn on Friday. The huge Gaselys tanker had been closely tracked by energy traders, since its arrival would mark the first imports that included some gas from a project in Russia subject to U.S. sanctions. The journey, though interrupted, is raising questions about where America gets its fuel from.
1. Why is the U.S. buying gas from Europe?
Well, it was cold. French energy giant Engie SA bought the cargo to meet high gas demand...Read more ...

TPG Growth and CAA's investment firm Evolution Media buy into Africa's music business

Private equity and media giants from the U.S. yare starting to pay attention to Africa's burgeoning music scene. TPG Growth, the middle market and growth equity investment arm of private equity giant TPG, and Evolution Media, the investment and advisory services firm created by Creative Artists Agency and TPG, have acquired a majority stake in the South African multimedia...Read more ...

Apartment List has raised an additional $50M in its latest round of funding, and is now the fastest growing rental marketplace in the U.S.Read more ...

Gross Domestic Product by Industry, 3rd quarter 2017

Finance and insurance; durable goods manufacturing; and information services were the leading contributors to the increase in U.S. economic growth in the third quarter of 2017. According to gross domestic product by industry statistics released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, 18 of 22 industry groups contributed to the overall 3.2 percent increase in real GDP in the third quarter. Full TextRead more ...

US stock indexes are mostly higher in morning trading

The major U.S. stock indexes were mostly higher in morning trading Friday as gains by retailers and consumer goods companies outweighed losses in other sectors. Technology stocks were among the biggest decliners. Energy companies fell along with the price of...Read more ...

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were prodded higher by gains in consumer stocks, while investors played down fears of a looming U.S. government shutdown.Read more ...

Visit U.S. Coalition Launches Amid Drop in U.S. Share of Global Travel

The dip in U.S. market share is a hindrance to the president's economic goals, which the Visit U.S. coalition intends to help correct. Research prepared for Visit U.S. by the U.S. Travel Association shows that while global travel volume increased 7.9 percent from 2015 to 2017, the U.S. slice of that growing pie fell from 13.6 percent to 11.9 percent in the same periodthe first drop after more than a decade of consistent growth.Read more ...